fall
by Euphoric Dysphoria
Summary: The letter was addressed to her father, but she opened it anyway. She'd opened a door that had answers. The answers to where her little brother could be and how to get him back. Now, it was her turn to play hero. Some Jayden/OC.
1. A Witness

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Heavy Rain the game, the plot, or the characters. However, the Alston family and the Williams family are my characters and I will be very offended if you take them. :3 Thanks!**

**fall**

**Chapter I, "A Witness"**

It was nights like these when I honestly regretted ever joining the volleyball team. Okay, no, scratch that - it was nights like these when I regretted not bringing a jacket. The air was blistering cold, wind seeming to whip through my skin and bones and leave me with a sickening feeling. It'd been raining often, something I wasn't too fond of as it only worsened the weather. Though, despite my prayers, it rained. And rained. And rained. I stared out into the streets, beyond the comfort underneath the rusted awning, concern burrowed in my eyes as soon as I noticed how dark it was outside. _Wow, Adalyn_, I cursed to myself, _way to be a genius._I sighed, lowering myself to grab a tight hold on my gym bag, and slinging it swiftly over my shoulder. The sound of the fabric brushing against the rough, concrete floors echoed eerily; my grip on the strap only tightened. There was only one thing I hated more than the rain and that was being alone, in the dark.

I took a leap of faith and stepped outside, shutting my eyes at first in protection of the sudden burst of rainwater. I felt a splatter of water seep through my tennis shoes and into my socks, but I continued down the street, forcing my eyes open. I quickened my pace, straying closer to a nearby streetlight. My breath stayed slow and my steps remained steady - rain drops pelted the back of my neck and made the loose hairs of my ponytail cling to my face. I pushed them out of my eyes with the back of my hand and blinked hard to get the water out of my vision. The streets were completely empty - even the cars were scarce, but hell, I wouldn't blame them. Driving in San Francisco in weather like this on a Wednesday night? Even Jesus would weep.

I followed the streetlights absently - I'd walked home in the dark far too many times not to. But in this weather? Oh, no. It was time for a shortcut. I slowed my pace a bit at the next intersection. _If I go straight and cut through the train tracks it should be a straight shot_, I reviewed the plan with myself. I'd done it plenty of times, it was simple. I let out a breath of air from my lungs and took another in, slowly, then dashed out again to cross the street. I splashed through puddles hastily, determined to make it home before the rain thundered down even harder than it already was. My ankles were nearly numb from the iced water, which was somewhat of a relief. The train tracks weren't far from the intersection, and at the pace I was going, I was bound to be home in no time.

The soft patter of my footsteps against the asphalt faded away and was replaced with a sudden _glop_ as my shoe sank deeper into the mud. I scoffed, but still persisted to trudge through, my steps careful and soft in an attempt to protect my footwear. Things seemed to get even more silent now that I couldn't hear my steps over the rain. There was only the occasional crunch of a leaf or splatter of mud when I stepped to hard. _Crunch, crunch, splat, crunch, splat, splat, pfffft._

_Wait._

My heart jumped and I instantly raised my foot up. I backed up with the other hastily, my heart still fluttering in my chest like a rabbit's. I must have done this too fast since my foot slipped against the surface; I crashed down into the mud with a disgusting sound, but in my terror, I disregarded it. My eyes searched all around frantically while my hands slipped against the mud underneath me to try and push myself up. I looked down where I had stepped earlier, half expecting to see a poor helpless rock that missed my glace or the sewer monster my old babysitter used to tell me about.

It wasn't either of those. I would've been happier with the latter.

Through my panicked vision, I could see tiny stubs of fingers. I instantly blinked again, either in an effort to clear my sight or to free my mind from it's stupid hallucinations that often try to molest my mind. The fingers formed into a hand. I shuddered, my eyes growing even wider. An arm. My heart sped up and the shaking began. A head, a torso. A body. _A fucking body._I wasn't hallucinating this time, it was real.

I found a body.

I'd somehow managed to push myself up into a sitting position through my terror, even though the shivers hadn't ceased. My lips parted open and I expected myself to say something - _anything_ - but all that came out was a tiny wheeze, and even though it was almost inaudible, it seemed to take all the breathe out of me. I stared at the body, dumbfounded and petrified, eyes beginning to tear up simply because the scare was too powerful for my heart to handle. What do I do? Who was this? Why? _What's going on?_ My eyes adverted back down to the hand I'd stepped on and my stomach sank. An origami figure.

Oh, my god. It was him. My throat closed up suddenly; it was hard to breathe.

A million things ran through my head all at once, some of which were irrelevant and the rest just terrifying speculations. _What do I do?_ Police. I needed to get the police. My hands searched frenetically for my cell phone, first to my hip and cursing myself when I realized I was wearing my volleyball shorts. It took me a minute too long to think of where it could have been next, then I instantly went for the gym bag. The first few times I tried to pull it open my fingers were shaking too much. It took nearly all my concentration to ease them and open up the bag, but as soon as I did, my arm dived inside and searched. The longer it took for me to find it, the more fear bubbled up inside. Clothes, clothes, oh… something hard. I snatched it and curled my fingers around it thankfully, knuckles going white from clutching it so hard. I flipped it open, one hand hovering over the screen to protect it from the rain and the other dialing numbers.

951. _No, that's not it, stop._

912. _Calm down, focus._

Deep breath. 911. Send.

It rang twice. I'd almost convinced myself that they weren't going to answer me until I heard a soft, female voice on the other end: "911, what's your emergency?"

"…" A wheeze again; I had just now noticed that I was crying too hard to speak correctly. "C-…" My throat stung as I tried to speak again.

"Calm down, can you repeat yourself and speak a little more clearly?" The operator spoke again, calm and collected.

"Carter's Street by the t-t-train tracks. I-I found a b-body, origami killer, I think," It was hard to focus on what I was saying, but at this point I couldn't care less if I sounded like an idiot. "I need police to come here, please. Hurry." I sniffed to try and calm the hysterics but the tears kept flowing.

"Alright, ma'am, police are on the way. Do you know who it is?"

"N-no, no." I shook my head to myself, eyes trying to see through the tears and over to the body. "It's a boy," I said this quietly, tearing up more as I stared at his matted head of hair and the mud that crusted away at his face. "I, I think he's dead." More tears. I gasped for air, though it was hard to in all this rain.

"Please calm down, the police are coming, ma'am. Can you explain to me what happened?"

"I just wanted to go home, I just…" I trailed off, biting my lower lip and shaking my head again. "I found him here, accidentally…"

"Alright. Stay calm, okay? Someone will be arriving shortly."

"O-okay." I responded shakily, looking back down into the mud and scattered leaves. I watched the leaves tremble from the heavy rain drops, I watched the leaves slide down the small slopes of the mudded grass, I watched the mud slide off into the streets and down the drains.

_I just wanted to go home._

_

* * *

_

The soft click of keyboards and whirls of phones still hadn't been able to break my of the shaking. The walls were so white and everything was so well-lit, it was overwhelming at first, but even though I'd been sitting in the same seat for so long it still seemed unusual. I felt so out of place - there I was, practically covered in mud, tears still streaming, in my soaked short shorts and volleyball jersey and gym bag in the seat next to me. Everyone else had their white collars and ties on. I kept my eyes on my knees to avoid their stares, and instead, I fiddled anxiously with my hands.

They'd brought me in from the scene for questioning, something I had mixed feelings for. Did they think I was a suspect? That _I'd_ killed him? I was scared, as anyone else would be in my situation. What was going to happen?

"Hey, Miss," I heard a coarse voice directed toward me and I instantly lifted up my head.

Two cops stepped toward me, one seeming to hold some sort of dominance over the other simply by how he strode in front of him. His hair was dark, messy, his eyes seemed to tear right through mine. It almost felt uneasy to look at him. He slowed as he reached me, stretching an arm out to grab a loose chair that had been dangling by a filing cabinet. He scooted it over next to me, and lowered himself to sit, leaving the other to stand. "I'm Lieutenant Carter Blake and this," He nodded toward his standing companion, "This is Agent Norman Jayden from the FBI."

I looked up to the other cop, wiping away the tears again to have a better look. He appeared quite a bit younger, a stern look in his eyes as well, but not as taunting as Blake's. Definitely easier to look at. He looked back down to me, his expression softening until he removed his coat carefully and stepped closer to me. I jumped at his actions at first, about to back away until I felt the warmth of his coat around my shoulders. My eyes met with his as he pulled away from me, a smile appearing on his lips for a second, then fading away as fast as it came up. "We just want to ask you some questions," He said to me, straightening up to his full height and crossing his arms. His voice was calm, melodious.

I cleared my throat abruptly, pulling the coat over my chest. I lowered my head again, tucking my hair behind my ear so it was out of my eyes. It had already gotten back to its wavy state due to the rain. "… Thank you," I finally said, then nodded my head.

"You can start by telling us your name." Blake stated, leaning forward on the chair with his elbows on his knees.

"Adalyn Alston." My voice was starting to grow less and less shaky. "I go to the community college in the middle of town, it's my third year there…"

"22?" Blake added, raising an eyebrow. I nodded my head. He didn't waste any time with the next question. "What were you doing out?"

"I, uh… I play for the volleyball team at the college, I was walking home after practice," I sniffed and wiped some more tears away. I stared down at my fingers to see that they'd blackened. Great, makeup was smearing. "It was raining so hard, and I wanted to get home early… I took a shortcut and then I found him…" I bit my lower lip, gathering the courage to raise my head up to glance at Blake.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair impatiently. "You didn't see _anything_ out of the ordinary while you were walking, or when you got there? Not _one_ thing?" His tone started to grow more annoyed. I sunk deeper in my seat.

I shook my head at first, but finally managed to mutter out, "… No." I quickly tried to redeem myself, "It was raining so hard, I might've… not seen something, but… there wasn't really anyone outside. At least, that I saw…"

Blake groaned, holding his shaking head in his hands. "We're running around in circles 'ere!" I almost didn't hear him say this, but when I finally made it out I frowned disappointedly.

He sighed once more, lifting himself out of the chair and kicking it behind himself aggressively. It flew back to the filing cabinet where it had originally resided. He took a long pause and stared at me before turning away and shouting, "Go home. If you need a ride, ask someone."

And just as _mysteriously_ as he arrived he was gone.

I heard a frustrated sigh come from Jayden and I perked my head up. There was a pause between us - I had expected him to follow but when he didn't I didn't know exactly what to do. "Sweet guy." I muttered. "Probably a joy to work with." Fluent in sarcasm.

"Oh, so you can tell too?" Jayden inquired back, eyes widening with shock. He sighed again, sliding his hands in his pockets and watching me from above. "I'm sorry about him. Listen, you're a real help. It could have been longer before we got to that body."

I felt a smile come through but I fought it, and instead I shrugged. "Never thought finding a body would be a good thing, but if it helps you guys, I guess that eases me a little."

He smiled. "It's a hell of a good thing here, I can tell you that." There was a short pause, but he quickly resolved it. "Do you need a ride back home? I think I could run out quickly to give you one."

I shook my head, then lifted myself out of the chair. "No, it's okay. I'll call my parents, they're probably worried sick." I removed his coat and handed it back to him, finally breaking into a smile. "Thanks again for that. If I ruined it I'm sorry and I'll pay for it."

He laughed, one of those warm one-syllable laughs. "It's no problem. Be safe."

"Mhm." _Yeah, I'll try not to run into any more bodies._ I lifted my gym bag up and turned, beginning to walk across the glossy, tiled floor to the door.

"Wait, Adalyn!" I heard Jayden call again, then looked behind my shoulder with curious eyes. He was writing something down against the desk, and as soon as he finished he came quickly toward me, handing me a little sheet of paper. I turned my whole body to him again and grabbed it, then looked down to analyze it. A phone number.

"If you remember anything or need something, just call." He smiled again, then gave me a quick nod goodbye, turning away and beginning to slide his arms back into his coat. I watched him walk away, then looked back at the digits with a small smile. I didn't exactly plan on running into anymore problems and I'm sure as hell that I didn't see anything else that might have been of help, but I decided to keep his number. Something told me to. I kept my fingers curled around the note and then turned back toward the doors, making swift steps toward them.

I'm so glad I listened to whatever that was.

* * *

_Author's Note;  
Wow, this took a lot longer than I had envisioned. I haven't written since NaNoWriMo, and that was like, 3 months ago, so please, I'm _really_ rusty, and I'd really adore it if you'd bear with me. I know my writing's not the best but I'll get better in time. :) I'd superduper love it if you guys left a little review to tell me what you think and what I should work on. Thanks! I plan to have another chapter up soon, if you like it!_


	2. Tyler

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Heavy Rain the game, the plot, or the characters. However, the Alston family and the Williams family are my characters and I will be very offended if you take them. :3 Thanks!**

_Thanks Syncerity, PrincessPoisonx3, and grable42 for reviewing and the rest of you guys for alerting, I like to see that people are reading and enjoying, for the most part. Keep it coming, I appreciate it! :)  
Ugh, sorry if this chapter kind of drags on a little bit, but I kind of wanted to write it for people who haven't played Heavy Rain, too. Bear with me, pleeease. Alsoo, I changed the summary since I felt the original was a bit tasteless._

**fall**

**Chapter II, "Tyler"**

I didn't go to school the next day.

To my surprise, it hadn't been my decision. After hours trying to explain to my parents why I needed to be picked up at the police station, and that I _hadn't_ done any drugs and I _wasn't_ drinking _or _partying, they sent me to bed and told me to stay in from school. This was a blessing; I knew that the moment I stepped onto campus I wouldn't hear the end of it. The last thing I needed was to be bombarded by college kids that wanted some sort of "and-my-life-flashed-before-my-eyes" television story out of me. I hardly even wanted to explain it to the few friends I did have. Plus, I'm pretty sure anyone would pounce on the opportunity to get a good night's rest without the taunting reminders they would have to endure in the morning. Nonetheless, I found myself waking up early in avoidance of the haunting nightmares the night before caused.

The news had been blaring from the TV all day and I'd found it near impossible to get the monotonous voices of the reporters out of my head. By the end of the day, I was cringing every time I heard "Origami Killer's eighth victim was found" blandly slide out of one of their mouths. It was some late hour in the afternoon before my mother had, thankfully, shut off the television and gone out to run errands. I took the chance and stepped outside onto the stone steps in front of the home. The air was humid and heavy, and with a quick glance up to the sky I quickly found out why. The murky grey clouds hung low enough to kiss the top of the city buildings I could see in the distance, and even completely engulf a few. I sat down on one of the steps and brought my knees to my chest, wrapped my arms around them and watched the city and the clouds that hung above. I stayed there for a long while, thinking of all the things that I hadn't gotten a chance to while my mother was around. I was growing more and more thankful of her departure, as sad as it sounded.

"Addie!" The familiar call caused me to perk my head up and break away from my thoughts.

I stood up and continued down the rest of the steps, poking my head out to catch a glimpse of the tiny child heading in my direction. I grinned as he scurried toward me, reaching his arms out to grab hold of me for a hug. I stumbled backwards - he ran at me harder than I expected, however, I wrapped my arms around him as tightly as he had his around me. "Tyler," I managed to sputter out between giggles, "You're gunna break me." I ruffled his chestnut hair through my fingers playfully.

I know it's hard to believe, but my little brother is my everything. Some days I honestly can't understand why he still adores and looks up to me today. You'd expect something like that out of a seven year old, maybe, but even after his eleventh birthday, he still clung to me the same way. Sure, he has his moments, like any other boy, but compared to the other siblings-from-hell stories I'd heard, he was an angel.

Following not too far behind him was Sam, Tyler's soccer coach and one of my closest friends since we moved here. We'd been paired up in some obscure chemistry project we both didn't care much for in our freshman year of high school and ever since then we were inseparable. He stuck out most to me due to his interest in sports (he was godly skilled at soccer), something we both obtained. And on top of that, he's most likely the sweetest person you'll find in San Francisco. His shaggy blonde hair always had this way of looking so messy yet neat at the same time. I'd always wondered how much - or maybe how little - he had to try to keep it like that. To this day, my mother and father keep this silly joke that we'd end up getting married or whatever, and I always wave it off. He lifted his hand up from out of his jacket pocket for a wave, and when he grew close enough he uttered, "Hey."

I smiled at him and nodded my head as a greeting. "No visible scratches or tears… I'm guessing practice went good?" We had an odd, teasing sense of humor he could only get.

"Rude," was Sam's only response before Tyler butted in once again.

"Addie can we _pleeeease_ go down to the park today?" He pleaded, letting go of me and raising his head to stare at me with those big, brown eyes. I watched him for a moment before bursting out into a light, short laughter.

"Didn't you have enough at practice today?"

He pouted and shook his head animatedly, tugging at my jacket. "_Pleeeeeeease_?" He repeated, beginning to jump with excitement.

I sighed and shrugged helplessly. There was no way I was going to convince him otherwise, but it wasn't like I minded. It wasn't like there was something to do at home, and it would be nice to try and cheer myself up with Tyler's smiles. "Alright, alright, calm down. We'll go, but only for a little while, it's going to pour soon."

Tyler cheered with excitement, a jubilant grin coming to his lips. He hurried up the stairs, skipping two with one jump, and swung the door open recklessly. "I'll get my jacket!" He squealed back to me.

I smiled to myself again as I watched him drown in his own anticipation. "Thanks for bringing him home from practice." I turned to Sam with the same beaming smile.

"Stop thanking me, you act like it's the first time or something." He chuckled, his bright blue eyes sparkling as they squinted.

"Wow, taking my gratitude and make me feel special, that's Sam."

"Lovely hair day you're having," He tried to redeem himself. I rolled my eyes.

Tyler hurried down the steps in a frantic rush, trying to slide his arms through his coat at the same time but failing miserably. I stopped him as soon as he reached me then proceeded to shift his coat around to help him out. He smiled and wrapped his tiny fingers around my long, skinny ones, beginning to pull me down the street mischievously. I let him pull me along, slowing only when I heard Sam's quiet footsteps trailing behind me. I turned back to him, confusion lingering in my brow. "You're coming?"

"Why not?" He slid his hands back into his jacket pockets casually. "You really just don't want to be around me that bad?"

I laughed and muttered, "Shut up." I didn't need to say he was wrong. That was the wonderful thing about hanging out with him. I never had to try too hard to impress him or anything, he just hung out with me for me, unlike some of the other people I reluctantly called friends.

* * *

The park was only a few blocks away from our house which was an ingenious decision on my parent's part, probably knowing that Tyler would want to go every day if he got the chance to. Nevertheless, it was unusually empty on the weekdays; sometimes I would walk by it on my way home and find it completely abandoned. Shockingly, today was one of those rare days when no one showed up, most likely due to the ominous clouds hanging overhead.

We spent most of our time playing tag or crawling through the rusted jungle gym, laughing and giggling childishly, and for a moment, Sam and I were kids again. Something about goofing around with Tyler made me throw away that adult mask I always had to wear around everyone else. It was an incredible feeling - stress from exams, finding jobs, tiring friendship dramas - all of that seemed to melt away and be replaced with the sound of warm giggles being exchanged between the three of us. We got tired quick due to the humid air clogging our lungs from too much laughter. I rested on the squeaky swings next to Tyler, who swung himself _veeeeery_ slowly, simply to hear the shrill noise of the rusted metal tickle his ears. Sam sat not too far from us on a bench that looked like it was about to break any moment under his weight.

I watched Tyler with inquisitive eyes, a smile wondering to my lips inattentively from his peaceful nature. He didn't say anything. He just watched, looking out into the sky and all around the park, his eyes sometimes stopping when he noticed something that caught his eye. He would always do the littlest things that would somehow bring me so much hope. It would inspire me to push through whatever was going on at the time, no matter how silly or insignificant it was. He made me feel so happy, so complete as a person, and it made me feel incredible to know he probably felt the same toward me. I turned toward the horizon where the sun was beginning to set. My eyes beamed when I took notice to the gorgeous shades of purples and hues of orange burst through the thick clouds. It was perfect, _everything was so_ _unbelievably perfect_.

* * *

We'd decided to head home before it got too impossibly dark, for Sam's sake. To my surprise, Tyler didn't fuss; he seemed content to head home, which only peaked my pleasure. We walked back down the empty streets, Tyler clutching my hand while Sam followed by my side. Everything was quiet until I heard an almost inaudible gasp from Tyler.

I stopped. "What, what is it?"

"I… I think I left my coat back on the swing set…" His voice was shaking; I could tell he was nervous.

"Hey, it's fine, we're not too far. We can just run back and get it, champ." I rubbed his shoulder reassuringly. Luckily we hadn't been walking for more than a couple of minutes, otherwise I would have been a little bit more upset. I spun around to walk back but then I felt Sam grip my wrist and I halted.

"Wait, I'll take him," He stepped in front of me and looked down at Tyler, then back to me.

I raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Don't worry your pretty little head, Addie, we'll be two seconds." He winked, then patted Tyler's head. He kneeled down to his eye level and grinned, murmuring quietly, "Hey, I'll race you."

I had enough time to mumble, "Famous last words," until they dashed away, leaving behind a trail of their laughter to echo against the buildings. I leaned against the coarse, concrete wall behind myself and crossed my arms. I giggled to myself softly, thinking about the past hour or so and how much of a relief it was. I sighed and looked up at the sky again, taking note of how much quicker it darkened compared to yesterday.

Then I waited. And waited. And waited.

It was supposed to be two seconds and it was turning into five minutes.

At ten I was growing suspicious. I kept peeking down the road to see if they were close, and when I saw nothing, I convinced myself they just needed a few extra moments to search.

Fifteen was beginning to make me uneasy. I drummed my fingers anxiously against my thigh, trying to push the possibility of something going wrong out of my head. The thoughts came in anyway. I shoved my hands in the back of my jean pockets to try and calm myself. No help.

When twenty came I couldn't take it. I took a couple steps down the road, slowly at first since my knees were unbearably shaky. With every step, the more my heart started to pound, and the faster it beat, the quicker my steps became. In seconds I was in a full-on sprint and the cracked fence of the park started to come into my sight. I continued forward as quickly as I possibly could, but somehow I felt it wasn't quick enough. It felt like a dream where I was trying to get to something but I was running excruciatingly slow and I didn't know why. I slowed my pace when I reached the entrance and continued in, eyes frantically searching for the two familiar faces.

Then I saw it. I felt my heart come to an abrupt stop when I lowered my eyes. A sickening feeling waved over me, churning my stomach and almost causing me to vomit. I had to press my fingers over my lips to prevent it

Sam laid lifelessly in the grass, a small pool of blood gathered in his hair and poured out into the brick path. His limbs were sprawled out in uncomfortable positions, twisted together in a way that made my stomach drop. I gawked at his body with sickness and shock, my heart beginning to pound so fast it was in my throat. I took a wobbly step closer to him, my body beginning to shake so much, I felt like I was having a panic attack. Everything started to get dizzy, blurry. I kept blinking, waiting for my mind to stop joking with me, but it wouldn't go away. I blinked harder but more blood just seemed to come out. The green grass was now a disgusting, crimson shade of red. I fell down to my knees in painful disbelief, another gurgle of disgust coming from my mouth. I lifted my head up again, much too quickly, since the dazed sensation flickered abruptly. Tyler was gone. He wasn't here. I swapped my eyes from side to side but found nothing except for a few silent leaves blowing through the wind. I tried to call out his name but it felt like all of the breathe had been taken out of me, stolen away like he had been. I waited for the hyperventilation to stop before I tried once more.

"... Tyler?" I whimpered silently. Nothing.

I threw myself up from the ground and screamed. "_Tyler!_" My throat burned from how loud the scream was. It echoed eerily as I waited for a response; the quieter it grew, the more my heart began to flutter. The weird throat feeling came again and the waterworks started to flow.

No, this wasn't right. It couldn't be right. I kept waiting for myself to wake up but it never happened. I just stood there, dumbfounded, like a complete idiot. I kept calling his name again, wondering through the park hopelessly even though I knew there wasn't going to be anything there. He wasn't there. I panicked. What was I going to do? Sam could die! But where was Tyler? Why didn't he come back to get me? _Did... did someone taken him?_ I made several attempts to try and catch the enormous amount of breath I had lost but when I saw that my gasps for air remained, I went straight to the next step. I hastily reached for the cellular in my pocket, nearly dropping it in the pool of blood by Sam's head. I cried harder at the thought of that.

I dialed the number without hesitation, this time. A man's voice came from the other line which was soft and quiet. I had to concentrate as hard as I could to put his words in the correct order. "911, what is your emergency?"

"Riverfront Park. A-ambulance, I need an ambulance." I wiped tears away from the corners of my eyes. My hand was completely soaked from that one mop. "My friend - something happened to him..."

"Alright ma'm, I've dispatched an ambulance. Stay on the line with me, please. Can you tell me what happened?" His previously easygoing tone was growing more distorted as the reality started to set in. I could _feel_ myself going mad.

"…" I didn't say anything for the first few moments, and instead I felt myself cry harder. "Are you still there?" I heard the operator ask me.

"I came back to c-check on him, he's bleeding r-r-really bad," I fumbled with my words feebly and pausing only for a sniff, "My brother… he's gone." I said this quietly, almost as if I was afraid to admit it to myself.

_Tyler was gone._

_

* * *

_

The unstained white walls of the station had only brought back haunting memories of last night, worsening my condition. Oddly enough, I had managed to hold back my tears, no matter how tempting it sounded to just burst out in hysterics and curse myself for what happened. But, that wasn't going to solve anything, now was it? If there was anything I had learned from my last unfortunate trip to the station, it was that keeping your composure and sanity was key. One frail step backwards then there would be no way to fish yourself out of your own swamp of despair. I had to avoid losing my balance, for now.

I could see Blake's brow furrow with a mixture of sympathy and frustration even from afar. He spoke quickly on the phone - I could hear the sturdy tone in his voice but his lips were unreadable, but I had a gruesome idea of what he was saying to my parents. I swallowed hard, watching as he set the phone down on the receiver and run his hands through his hair with anxiety. His interrogation with me hadn't gone any smoother than the last and left me feeling even more pathetic than before. He and I both knew that the _real_ answers would be with Sam, and to be quite frank, part of me believed that Blake suspected him to be some sort of accomplice. I tried to push the alluring suggestion out of my head, but as I sat in the office corner, I couldn't help but wonder. Sam _was_ secretive, and he _did_ have a lot of free time on his hands. He'd been acting so weird lately, always gone...

"Adalyn?"

I blinked, snapping back into reality when the sudden voice flowed into my ears. I hadn't noticed that I'd somehow buried my face into my knees until I saw nothing but blackness. I lifted up my head, letting my legs slide back off the chair slowly as I did so. Another cop stood in front of me with a concerned gaze, this one I recognized from yesterday as well. His burrowed eyes watched me curiously; a humble feeling washed over me as he kept his stare on me. It was a strange relaxing feeling that only deepened when I locked my own eyes with his. "Yeah… Agent Jayden, was it?"

He nodded, his eyes not escaping from mine. "I'm sorry." His apology was genuine and had a hint of hurt behind it. I lowered my face again and didn't respond to him. To be quite honest I didn't know what to say. I almost didn't want to hear it, but from him, it was reassuring. He was probably the only person who could _really_ help in a situation like this. I had to trust him.

There was an appropriately placed silence. "I'll take you home." He held a hand out to me to help me up, which I accepted after a feeble nod. His hand was callused, but at the time, it was so much warmer than the rest of the building that I didn't care.

* * *

The drive home was quiet, but I hadn't expected it to be anything otherwise. I stared out the window solemnly while Jayden drove. The rain drops pelted against the windows softly, a sound that would normally have soothed me, but now, it only made me grow more upset. The car was warm and was starting to make me feel nauseous, but I couldn't tell if that was from the heat or my disposition. A few times I glanced toward Jayden, examining his strained eyes and uneasy expression, but then I looked away, back out into the dark city streets that were being coated with rainwater. It was a long while until I finally spoke above the radio to give him the final directions. "It's the next house." I'd interrupted a quiet Metric song that had been successfully holding my attention since I got in the car.

He came to a slow stop but didn't unlock the doors. For some reason, I hadn't expected to leave anyway, so I sat there, listening to the patter of the rain and the inaudible lyrics of Metric.

"I'm going to do everything I possibly can to find him." It came out of him so profoundly that it almost shocked me. I turned my head to him, my eyes probably casting the same stare they'd held before. It was hard to see him in the dim lighting, but I knew his face was flashing with determination. He looked toward me and spoke again, a little quieter this time. "_Everything._ I swear to you."

I felt tears of gratitude begin to swell up but I held them back. I prayed he hadn't seen them. "… Thank you." I responded weakly. "… So much, really. Thanks, Jayden." I repeated it again, scared he hadn't heard the first time.

"Norman," He spoke, "Call me Norman."

I nodded slowly. "… Thank you, Norman." I corrected myself.

He gripped the wheel a little tighter. "You still have my number, right? Just… call me, if anything goes wrong - or even if you just need something…" As he continued, his voice grew softer and more comforting. I nodded my head again, a quaint, welcoming smile curling on my lips. For that moment, he seemed less and less like a detective and more like sometime I could turn to if I ever needed to break down. Someone like that was what I needed.

I heard the doors unlock - a loud click that made me jump. I pushed the door open and stepped out into the rain, looking back into the car to wave. "Bye." Jayden nodded in return and I shut the doors to head up the stairs into the home. The last thing that lingered in my mind was the silent song, playing over and over in order to comfort myself.

_Lord, lord mother, we are all losing love, lord, listen mother lover we are all missing mama._

No one said a word when I shut the door behind myself, but I was running too fast for them to have a chance to. I didn't want to talk to my parents. I didn't want to talk about what had happened. I needed to be alone for a _long, _long time. I scurried through the house and pushed the door to my room open and let it spring close by itself. My hand absently flew to the light switch and shut it off and I threw myself onto the bed. I didn't care if the rainwater soaked my sheets. I didn't care about anything. I buried my face into my pillow and all of a sudden, the tears flowed out like rivers and I couldn't stop them. I cried and cried and cried. I just wanted to wake up and go back to how everything way before. I wanted Tyler to come home happy and I wanted to play around with him and help him with his homework but I knew that I couldn't.

He was gone and I couldn't do anything.

* * *

_Oh my god this was so long but I couldn't adjagdf4235qd. I'm so sorry, I had to cut so much out, but I didn't want to split it into two chapters because then I would feel terrible making you guys wait for the inevitable. I'm just glad I got this done! I'll have the next one up soon, and I swear that we'll be getting more into the bulk of the plot. ;) _


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